Remotely controllable telephone line terminators are commonly employed at telephone line main frames while a service technician is remotely performing tests and measurements at the telephone line(s) the telephone line terminator is connected to. At a common main frame, a number of well known protectors are plugged in corresponding protector sockets that are mounted and wired in dense arrays. At the backside of the protector sockets, the telephone line wires are commonly wire wrapped around pins that connect to the sleeves of the female protector sockets.
In the prior art, telephone line terminators are commonly conductively connected to the telephone lines by use of well known alligator clamps that are clamped to the wire wrapped ends. Due to the commonly tightly arrayed protector sockets, access to their rear may be difficult if not impossible. Clamping on the wire wrapped line ends may also produce an unreliable contact and associated resistance that may degrade any test results remotely performed on the line(s). Clamping on to the wire wrap connections may also damage them. Therefore, there exists a need for conductively connecting a telephone line terminator reliably to a telephone line without involving the open line ends at the rear of the protector socket. The present invention addresses this need.
Further more, prior art telephone line terminators employ cable that connect the alligator clamps and the like in sufficient distance to the terminator apparatus such that the apparatus can be securely placed while the service technician is at the remote testing site. Such cables may introduce additional capacitance and resistance that again may undesirably effect the test measurements. Therefore, there exists a need for a telephone line terminator that can be connected to telephone lines without use of additional connection cables. The present invention addresses this need.
Also, prior art telephone line terminators connect commonly in a rather improvised fashion as described above. This requires them to be removed immediately after conducting the test measurements at the remote location, which may require substantial travel time back and forth for the service technician. Therefore, there exists a need for a telephone line terminator that provides a solid and reliable connection for extended connection durations. The present invention addresses also this need.